Early this month we discussed a new Internet of Things (IoT) botnet called Persirai (detected by Trend Micro as ELF_PERSIRAI.A), which targets over 1000 Internet Protocol (IP) camera models. Currently, through Shodan and our own research, we see that 64% of tracked IP cameras with custom http servers are infected with Persirai. But, because these cameras are such common targets, there is some competition between malware.

While studying the security concerns of smart cities, we have noted how the absence of well-defined standards and regulations, can turn projected benefits into unforeseen problems. In order to guide smart city developers, we have come up with a quick 10-step cybersecurity checklist they can refer to when implementing smart technologies.

For cities looking to adopt these technologies across all their public-facing sectors, the benefits are promising, but they also come with many risks. Here, we run through a variety of existing smart solutions many cities use for each of their critical sectors, and the kind of attacks local governments should be prepared for.

What does it take to build a smart city? More than half of the world’s population live in urban areas, but not all of these locales can be considered smart. Smart city implementations vary from region to region. We have surveyed a number of currently existing smart cities and how they are adopting smart technologies to address urban challenges.

Internet of Things technology is now more widespread than many people realize. Systems that fall under the IoT umbrella are popping up in an array of settings, even outside consumer circles. Today, every group from enterprise businesses to city governments is utilizing intelligent, internet- and Bluetooth-enabled devices to make a variety of critical capabilities possible.

Earlier this year, two separate security risks were brought to light: CVE-2017-0144, a vulnerability in the SMB Server that could allow remote code execution that was fixed in March, and WannaCry/Wcry, a relatively new ransomware family that was found in late April.